Fillon's Children Paid $91,000 as Parliamentary Assistants - Reports

Two children of French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon had been paid some 84,000 euro ($91,000) gross as his assistants, French Le Canard Enchaine newspaper reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Fillon's children served as parliamentary assistants between 2005 and 2007, when their father was a senator for Sarthe region, the weekly said Tuesday. It is unclear whether Fillon's children did really exercise their job responsibilities.

The revelations come amid ongoing scandal around Fillon's wife Penelope. According to media reports, she had been fictionally employed for eight years as her husband's parliamentary assistant and later as a contributor to the popular cultural magazine Revue des Deux Mondes, owned by one of Fillon's friends.

Le Canard Enchaine said Tuesday that Penelope Fillon had earned 900,000 euro as a parliamentary assistant and contributor to the Revue des Deux Mondes, raising previous estimates it made last week by 300,000 euro.

France's financial prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into Fillon's wife alleged fake employment with the National Assembly offices being searched on Tuesday as part of the probe.

The French law does not prohibit lawmakers to hire family members as their assistants but provided it is a real, not a fictitious job.

Fillon, who is now the second popular candidate for the upcoming French presidential election after far-right Marine Le Pen, has four sons and one daughter.

During last days, Fillon has many times reaffirmed his commitment to his wife and his willingness to fight against the accusations.

More than 70 percent of French voters said were not convinced by The Republicans’ candidate arguments against allegations, according to the Elabe poll conducted for the BFMTV television channel and published on Tuesday.